Global Encounter Africa 2007

Part IV:  Peace, Unity and Reconciliation

I recently learned of a tradition in the African nation of Uganda called bending spears.  When two sides of a conflict finally worked out their differences and found a way to live in peaceful coexistence, they would come together and bend each others’ spears making them useless as weapons.  It reminds me of the prophecy in the book of Isaiah (4:2) – …they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sward against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. (See also Joel 3:10).

Uganda lies directly to the north of Rwanda, and so it is no surprise to me that a similar tradition of forgiveness might be shared among the two nations.

One day during our stay in Rwanda, we met with a local Peace, Unity and Reconciliation Association that had been implemented by the Lutheran World Federation.  I had expected that we would meet with community leaders who were trying to promote peace and reconciliation within their community.  I was only partly right.

We gathered in a small community hall and were greeted by the leaders of the association.  Then the chair of their group – a man whose face was severely scarred – told us how, during the Genocide, he had taken refuge in a local church along with thousands of others.  However, the church turned out to be no refuge at all and was stormed by people armed with machetes.  He survived only by hiding under a pile of dead bodies for days until he felt it was safe to emerge.  Other people told similar stories.  These people called themselves survivors.  

Then other people in the room began to speak, people who called themselves suspects.  They didn’t talk of the Genocide, but of their time in prison following the Genocide, and how they were eventually invited back into their communities by the survivors.

I couldn’t believe that suspects of the Genocide would be allowed in the room, let alone allowed to speak.  I found myself physically appalled that I had to listen.  But, as I listened, I heard how villages broken by the Genocide were being rebuilt into healthy communities.  I heard how a traditional model of justice, called Gacaca, had been re-established in the country.  Suspects who were willing to participate were brought before village elders where they had to tell the stories of their Genocide crimes.  Once these truths were brought into the light of day, healing was allowed to begin to take place.  Suspects were invited back in the community where they could strengthen the community with their skills and talents and be offered the opportunity to make amends for their crimes wherever possible.

At the end of our meeting, and after hearing many stories, survivor and suspect together got up and began clapping, singing and dancing as a way of saying thank you to us Lutherans for helping them come to this new peace, new reconciliation, and new life.

I experienced and learned something about the amazing power of forgiveness on that day.

Next, I will talk about how even the HIV virus, which was used as a weapon during the Genocide, has not overcome the spirit of hope in the Rwandan people.

Pastor Brian

Pastor Brian

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Photo: Brian Wilker-Frey